Written Answers Thursday 24 February 2005

Scottish Executive

Autism

Mark Ballard (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to introduce autism awareness training for criminal justice professionals.

Hugh Henry: There is a need for awareness and understanding of autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) for a wide range of professionals. We are taking forward a number of initiatives primarily amongst education, health and social care agencies. We are also very alive to the need for criminal justice agencies to respond appropriately to ASD. The Minister of Justice plans to meet the National Autistic Society in the near future to inform our understanding of the needs of people with ASD coming into contact with the criminal justice system.

Child Care

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to improve access to qualifications and training in the pre-school and child care workforce.

Peter Peacock: The survey of pre-school and child care workforce, published this month, shows that the numbers of staff with child care qualifications has increased from 67% in 2003 to 74% in 2004.

Education

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to reduce the number of pupils leaving school in Glasgow with no job to go to.

Peter Peacock: The National Qualifications framework offers all learners a range of vocational courses to help them prepare for employment. The present provision is being extended by the introduction of new skills-for-work qualifications for 14 to 16-year-olds. In addition, Careers Scotland works in partnership with schools to achieve positive outcomes for young people making the transition from school to the labour market, with additional support programmes available to schools in areas of higher unemployment.

Employment

Ms Rosemary Byrne (South of Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made on the provision of employability projects for people who are either homeless, drug or alcohol-addicted or a combination of these.

Mr Jim Wallace: Scottish ministers are committed to closing the opportunity gap for those individuals most excluded in Scotland’s communities. This activity includes improving the opportunities for vulnerable individuals to access and sustain employment by building on the best examples of flexible, cross agency training and employability programmes which are already in place for these groups.

Enterprise

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in promoting Scotland as a film location.

Patricia Ferguson: The Scottish Executive has established Scottish Screen as the prime public agency charged with the promotion of Scotland as a film location. Its annual report records the progress it has achieved in attracting film and television companies to work in Scotland.

Forestry

Eleanor Scott (Highlands and Islands) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it is making on the development of forest crofting.

Lewis Macdonald: Officials from the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Development Department, Forestry Commission Scotland and the Crofters Commission will meet next month to consider how to take this forward.

Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any proposals to ensure that botox treatment is provided in a safe manner by qualified and experienced staff.

Rhona Brankin: In Scotland, the National Care Standards for Independent Hospitals were published in March 2002. The National Care Standards for independent specialist clinics, which cover independent clinics providing cosmetic surgery and treatment, lasers and weight management treatments were published in February 2004. The standards are used to monitor the quality of services offered and their compliance with the act and the regulations.

Health

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to monitor the system of GP out-of-hours cover in remote rural areas.

Mr Andy Kerr: The new GP out-of-hours arrangements are the responsibility of NHS boards. The health department monitors boards’ overall performance, and this year I will be chairing annual reviews to hold NHS boards to account for their performance in providing services to patients and meeting national priorities.

  A national General Medical Services out-of-hours working group also meets on a regular basis. This comprises key stakeholders, including the Executive, NHS boards, NHS 24 and the ambulance services, and forms an important part of the monitoring process.

  In addition NHS QIS have published a set of standards and guidelines for the safe and effective provision of out-of-hours services. Providers of out-of-hours services have a statutory responsibility to meet the standards, which will be monitored by NHS QIS.

Housing

George Lyon (Argyll and Bute) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how the funding for housing announced in the ministerial statement on Scottish Water on 9 February 2005 will help connect housing developments in rural areas to the water system.

Malcolm Chisholm: Lewis Macdonald’s announcement on 9 February included a commitment to invest in the strategic water and sewerage infrastructure required for new housing development. He also said that £14 million a year will be made available to reflect the costs to the housing programme of local infrastructure to connect affordable housing developments, in both urban and rural areas, to the network.

Licensing

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are planned regarding investigating and regulating lap dancing and associated activities.

Mr Tom McCabe: The Executive intends to take a stronger approach to adult entertainment activity – including lap dancing – recognising the concerns being expressed about it. We are taking a two stage approach to the issue that will lead to new powers to regulate adult entertainment and an independent review of this area.

  Firstly, the Licensing (Scotland) Bill, which will be introduced shortly, will contain powers which will be used to prescribe measures for regulating adult entertainment on licensed premises. The Executive will introduce regulations for mandatory national licence conditions – as proposed by the expert reference group – which are as wide-ranging and effective as possible. We are considering whether any additional licence conditions should be imposed.

  Secondly, we are setting up a time-limited working group to review the scope and impact of adult entertainment activity and make recommendations on the way forward. The group will be able to commission robust and reliable research and consider adult entertainment activity wherever it takes place, not just on licensed premises.

  The terms of reference for the working group are as follows:

  
to identify all relevant activities (whilst recognising the need not to suppress artistic freedom)
to consult with all relevant interest groups (including women’s groups, and employees and employers in the adult entertainment industry)
to commission research into the activities and associated impacts (using anonymous sources where appropriate) to identify and assess relevant types of controls, including the implementation and impact of any controls
to recognise the need to balance local and national interests
to take account of concurrent work on prostitution and regulations for lap dancing in licensed premises
to report to ministers with recommendations.


  I am pleased to announce that Mrs Linda Costelloe Baker, the Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman, has agreed to chair the working group. Further details about the composition and operation of the group will be announced shortly.

  These measures clearly show that the Executive takes adult entertainment issues seriously. In taking this forward, work will be carried out to look at any impact of adult entertainment activity on local communities and the dancers themselves, and a key issue will be the protection of the people who work in this area.

Local Government Finance

Phil Gallie (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the overall cost to local authorities would be if they were to meet in full the spending requirements placed on them by Executive legislation passed by the Parliament since its inception.

Mr Tom McCabe: The Executive funds around 80 per cent of local authorities’ revenue expenditure on core local services with the council tax making up the balance.

  This provision is built into the three-year funding settlements from the Executive.

  Funding for core services has increased by over £2.1 billion or almost 40 per cent in the last five years and by the end of the current spending review period it will have increased by over £3 billion or 55 per cent.

  Local authorities will also receive an additional £3.3 billion of revenue grants for specific Executive-led initiatives over that period.

Rail Network

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether its advice from officials is not to fund the Borders Railway and whether the matter will require a ministerial direction.

Nicol Stephen: The Scottish Executive continues to consider the Waverley Railway Partnership’s outline business case and an announcement will be made soon.

Rail Services

Scott Barrie (Dunfermline West) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to the first supplementary to question S2O-5043 by Nicol Stephen on 27 January 2005 ( Official Report , c 14016-17), what financial penalties have been imposed on the operators of the ScotRail franchise in Fife in the last five years as a result of poor performance.

Nicol Stephen: The information requested is not yet available. It is held by the Strategic Rail Authority and due to the way in which it is collected, it will take a little time to disaggregate the specific information for Fife. I will write to the member once the information is available and will place a copy of my letter in the Parliament’s Reference Centre.

Schools

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it issues to local authorities on priorities for the replacement or refurbishment of schools.

Peter Peacock: Although the Scottish Executive has published guidance on School Estate Management Plans as part of the series of School Estate Strategy publications, it remains the statutory responsibility of education authorities to assess the needs and prioritise competing demands for investment in their school estates.

Waste Management

Shiona Baird (North East Scotland) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding from the strategic waste fund has been allocated to community waste management groups.

Ross Finnie: We have allocated £5 million until March 2006 to the INCREASE Programme for community waste initiatives.

  We also allocated £2.5 million in 2003-04 and £1.8 million in 2004-05 from the Strategic Waste Fund specifically for community groups. In addition a number of local authorities are working in partnership with community groups in their area using Strategic Waste Fund monies.